Merrily reading along on Alan Wolfe's Jerry Falwell article, I suddenly come upon this: "America's megachurches offer a thin theology equivalent to twelve-step theology." This brought me up short with its misunderstanding. 12 Step "theology" is an egoless practice available to the religious and non-religious alike. But rathere than the damaging divisiveness of megachurches and Fallwell, it is practical, one day at a time. Alan Wolfe would not, I assume, prefer that several million recovering alcoholics instead be at this moment driving drunk down our highways.

As for Falwell and megachurches, he helped foment their inerrancy, the idolotrous belief that every word of the Bible is the gospel truth. Taken egolessly, parts of it may be; as may be a whole lot else. But to say a thing is spirit, to treat any word in the Bible as a graven image, is idolotry. Chogyam Trungpa talked about spiritual materialism.

Best,

Monty

(More, for free: google "Rabid Fanatic" +"Monty Johnston")

It looked to Me like the good Reverend never met a Ham Bone He didn't like! From the way He looked He could have done the Christian and charitable thing and fed maybe a hundred or so hungry people on about one tenth of what He was stuffing His face with!!!!Amen!!! Tommie27

...Just because you own half this town doesn't mean you own the rest of us! For twenty-three years, I have been wanting to tell you exactly what I think of you, but..but... being a good Christian Woman, I just can't do it!

I imagine him walking up to the gates of Heaven as St. Peter swings the doors wide. Jesus is standing inside, arms open in greeting. Falwell say "Ha! My critics were fools! I had it right all along."

As Jesus hugs him he says, "No, Jerry. You were wrong pretty much every step of the way. Every word out of your mouth betrayed my Truth."

"Then what am I doing here? Why are you embracing me?"

"Well, the key thing you got wrong is this: I'm an infinitely forgiving God. Even YOU are welcome here."

There are approximately five billion people on this earth right now, billions of whom deserve a prayer for health, happiness, mercy and everything good, despite the fact that I do not know them personally.

I did not know Falwell personally either, but he chose to reveal enough of himself over the years for me to make the decision that praying for his soul is not something I will waste my time with, considering those aforementioned billions who deserve whatever my prayers can give them. So there is where my time will go.

However, I will not be popping champagne, or throwing a party either. For some reason the news of his death leaves me totally indifferent, leaning toward preferring him six feet under than on top of the earth. THAT is what bothers me. Listening to the vitriol of his particular brand of Christianity for the past twenty years, whether I wanted to or not, has left me totally desensitized to the notion that he might have been a human being.

Jerry Falwell that is. Thank you for your wonderfully written and honest expose on what a nasty, egotistical, hateful man Falwell was. I can only hope he lands in hell.

the post-mortem conversation Falwell will be having with the late Chief Supreme Court Justice Rehnquist. I seem to remember Falwell praying for "vacancies" that Bush could fill with new appointees. Tha's gonna be awkward.

"I know you not" is the line. Jerry was a rank pharisee, a bigot, and a hatemonger. His reward will correspond to his judgemental consdesending and smug self-righteousness. Bye, Jer. Dress light. Gonna be real warm for a real long time.

Now Falwell will know the origin of demonizing.

Since I am not a Christian and therefore under no requirement to pray for Jerry Falwell's soul, and since I don't believe in the angry, vindictive, and wrathful deity of the scriptures, I'm going to go with the most truthful reaction I have...which is barely containable glee. The Christians who post here will disagree with me on this and that's all right. While you're chastising me for barely controlling my urge to dance in the street at the news of the demise of this ill-fitting empty suit wearing, saggy-jowl having, bug-eyed, nearsighted, Bible thumping, fat-ass windbag, you might think of this: the same Bible that he held as his guide says in the book of Proverbs that when the wicked perish, the city rejoices. I think that is probably a wise man's quite accurate observation. NO ONE will miss Jerry Falwell who watched the dialogue in this country descend into demonizing people who don't fit the Religious Right's (and now the GOP's) version of "righteous" or "American". NO ONE is sad to see this hate-monger finally leave the planet, unless they subscribe to the same narrow-minded intolerance that he stood for. So after breathing a sigh of relief for the passing of this odious excuse for a human being, the job of cleaning up the air he polluted still awaits us all. So pray for his soul if you must, Christians. For my part, I'm far less concerned with what the Almighty will do with it than I am with what our souls have had to endure during his entirely too long moment on this side of eternity.

When one believes in God and Satan as a couple of guys who do things to us for utterly arbitrary reasons, it is incumbent upon such a believer that he remember which is which. It was Falwell's confusing himself with God (and God with Satan) that brought about this ignominous end to a lifetime of perverting Christianity and promoting hate. Or maybe it was the perversion of a religion of love as one of hate that attracted God's lightning.

It's times like this when I really want to believe in a personalized, anthropomorphic God. Dammit, I just can't do it. Falwell was a bloated caricature from the hellish imagination of Bill Burroughs. No celebration is necessary, but perhaps a heavy sigh went through the universe as the Lynchburg Windbag deflated.

Perhaps this really is a sign of something. I'd like to think so.